Pre Denver fluff
by queequeg0927
Summary: Here's a little MnEm fluff that takes place before that famous trip to Denver...


Disclaimer: I do not own Standoff, although I wish I did.

Matt sighed and tugged at the black bow tie around his neck. This was the last place that he wanted to be on a Saturday night. Not only was he stuck there for the next two hours, he was alone.

After an exhausting six days of negotiating, Emily had finally managed to talk down the head of an activist group that had taken the governor's wife hostage.

Now, the CNU and many of the upper-ups were being congratulated at a formal dinner party. Everyone had shown up on time except Emily and the date she'd been rubbing in Matt's face all afternoon. She hadn't done it on purpose, but when Matt's date called and cancelled on him, he silently hoped that hers would do the same. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

Matt, who'd arrived uncharacteristically early, sat by himself at one of the round dining tables watching all of the guests enter the banquet hall.

Frank and his girlfriend came in, Matt gave him a nod as they made their was to the open bar.

Lia was next, she wore a slinky dress and held tightly to the arm of a blonde haired, blue eyed pretty boy. Matt couldn't help but roll his eyes at the sight of him.

Duff showed up with a different girl than he was dating the week before. This time it was brunette, he seemed to rotate hair colors with each girl.

Cheryl and her husband were next to arrive. She gave Matt a questioning look, surprised to see him there already. He quickly averted his eyes, trying to avoid any conversation that she might start.

Matt watched the entrance contently, waiting impatiently to catch a glimpse of Emily.

There she was, gorgeous as always. She was wearing a white, spaghetti strap dress, it was floor length and clung to her slender frame. The silky gown was very plain and simple, but elegant at the same time, typical Emily attire.

Matt snarled when he saw the arm around her waist and the firm grip the hand had on her hip.

He wasn't normally the jealous type and it wasn't like Emily was actually his, but Matt had always felt a need to protect her, even when he knew she didn't need it. Seeing this guy so close to her made his blood run cold, he wished that was him on her side.

Matt stood up from the table and made his way across the room to greet the pair.

"Hi," he said as he approached them.

"Hey," she replied, running her eyes from head to toe. "You clean up pretty well, I might have to ask Cheryl to have one of these parties every once in a while."

"You don't look half bad yourself."

'Did she just blush?' he silently questioned. 'No. There's no way, Emily doesn't blush.'

"Thank you. Oh, Matt this is Brian," the men exchanged awkward handshakes. Emily placed her hand on her date's chest, "Brian is an ER doctor at county."

Always the smart ass, Matt cut in, "Really? That must mean that you work long hours, right? You don't have time for relationships and the like?"

"Matt!"

"Never mind. It's nice to meet you Brian, I'm gonna head to the bar, can I get you two anything?"

"No, we're fine," Brian answered for them both.

With that, Matt turned and made a bee line to the bar, he needed a drink, badly. He ordered his beverage and took a seat at the table where Frank, Duff and their dates were sitting.

"What's wrong man?" Frank asked.

"Nothin'"

"Don't look so pissed. There's plenty of free liquor and I'm sure we can find you a single chick here somewhere."

Matt just nodded and downed his drink in one swallow. This was gonna be a long night.

The remainder of the evening was less than eventful. Dinner was served, it was bland and unappetizing. The CNU was rewarded with a shiny, gold plated plaque to honor them for doing the same thing they do on a day to day basis and got no credit for. Several speeches were made by the governor, his wife, the mayor, and the director of the FBI.

As hard as he tried, Matt couldn't keep his gaze from Emily's direction. She hadn't even glanced in his direction in the past hour. He knew that he should have kept his mouth shut, but word vomit seemed to be Matt's specialty when he was confused.

He needed to get her alone, he had to apologize for his behavior. Though it wasn't out of the ordinary for her be angry with him, this was personal, not work related and he wanted to explain himself.

'Not here, I'll wait until Monday when she's had a chance to cool down," he thought to himself.

She could feel his eyes burning holes in the back of her head. What was supposed to have been a decent night had turned into a pissing contest between her partner and her date. Every time Matt looked her way Brian's grip tightened around Emily. Though sweet, in it's own perverse way, it was also getting a little irritating.

Emily heard the vibrations of Brian's pager and knew exactly was he was going to say before he even looked up from it.

"I have to go," he whispered, trying not to interrupt the speaker.

"Believe me, I understand being on call. I'll call you later?"

Brian smile, "I hope so. Enjoy the rest of the night."

He leaned forward and kissed the side of Emily's cheek before leaving the table and quietly seeking out the side door.

Matt glanced towards the ceiling and mentally thanked whatever divine being had decided to shine down on him, 'I owe you one.'

After the final speech and a champaign toast, the dancing began. The was the time of night that Matt had planned on making his escape, but due to Brian's untimely exit, he decided to make amends with his partner.

He slowly walked across the room to the table where she'd been left by herself and took the seat next to her. Emily turned her face away from Matt and focused on Lia and pretty boy on the dance floor.

"I guess I deserve to be ignored."

She didn't look at, but replied, "that's not all you deserve. What got into you before? I've never seen you act like that."

"Can we talk? Outside, maybe?" Matt hoped to evade any humiliation that might ensue from their conversation.

Emily didn't answer, but stood and headed towards French doors that led to a dimly lit balcony. Matt followed close behind her as they wove their way through the crowed dance floor.

"Now, talk," Emily ordered.

Matt placed his hand on her arm and stroked it gently with the pad of his thumb. "I don't know what got into me earlier. I was an ass and I'm sorry."

Emily shrugged his hand away, "Matt, you completely embarrassed me in front of my… friend."

"Your 'friend'? Is that all he is?"

Emily was slightly taken back by the question. "What do you care?" she snapped.

Matt shuffled his feet trying to trying to find the right words, but couldn't, "you're right, I-I don't care. It's not really any of my business anyway. Just forget I asked."

He sidestepped Emily to get back inside the mansion and yanked open the glass door.

"Matt," she called, the guilt evident in her tone, "don't go."

He turned, leaving the door ajar, Matt took a step forward, curious as to why she wanted him to stay.

Emily sighed, "Can we put this behind us? My date just ditched me and I was really looking forward to a dance. You think that…" her voice trailed off.

Matt nodded, "yeah, I'd like that."

Em took a step forward and wrapped her arms around Matt's neck, his hands relaxed upon her hips. The soft music from the band inside echoed in the night air. They moved slowly to the light beat, their bodies inching closer together. Anxious for more contact, Emily rested her head on her partners shoulder, he pulled her tighter, holding her close.

The stayed that way for several minutes, rocking back and forth, enjoying the feel of each others warmth.

The sound of the music began to dissolved, Emily lifted her head and stared deep into Matt's dark, soulful eyes. She was unsure what she saw in them as her own emotions were running wild within. Matt tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingered on her on the fair skin of her cheek.

Matt leaned into her slowly, never taking his eyes off of hers. He paused only millimeters from her lips, in hopes that she would close the narrow gap between them. Emily could feel his breath hot against her mouth, she brushed her lips across his, barely making contact.

The door behind Matt swung open forcefully and hearty laughter rung out around the pair.

Startled, Em hastily stepped away from her partner and turned to look out upon the vast garden in the courtyard below.

Frank and Duff both placed a heavy arm on Matt's shoulders and shook him almost senseless.

"There you are. We've been looking all over for you."

Frank handed Matt a beer, "we're going back to my place for a little after party, you in?"

Matt was completely focused straight ahead at Emily's back, "not tonight guys. I think I'm just gonna head home."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Frank patted him on the back, "It's an open invitation if you change your mind."

"Thanks man. Be careful driving home."

Emily heard the door close behind her and glanced back to look at Matt who was no longer there.

Monday had been awkward to say the least. Matt tried to stay focused throughout the day, but failed miserably. All he could think about was walking away from Emily two nights ago. He didn't want to, but knew that it was for the best.

Not only were interoffice relationships frowned upon within the bureau, more often than not they fell apart quickly. He couldn't risk losing Emily as a partner, no matter how much he wanted her as a lover.

Matt wasn't sure if she felt the same way, but knew that the events of that night were weighing heavy on Emily as well. She'd managed to find an excuse to leave their shared cubicle every time he sat down beside her. The first time that happened Emily was so flustered and in a hurry that she'd actually run into a column on her way to the elevator.

One of them had to put an end to this nonsense, they had to work together and the discomfort between them had to go.

Matt found Emily going over her notes for her next class in the cafeteria. He pulled out the hard plastic chair and sat at table opposite her.

"This isn't working," Matt said matter-of-factly.

Emily dropped her ink pen and looked up from her papers, "let's just pretend that it never happened."

"What?"

She shrugged and returned to her notes, "I already have."

Matt jumped up from his seat, "how can you--? Fine. It never happened."

"Good."

"Great" Matt said as he slammed the chair against the table, sending an echo through the nearly empty room.

It had been almost a week since the charity banquet and Cheryl could tell that something was wrong. The tension between her top negotiators was unmistakable. She watched them intently through the blinds in her office, they hadn't moved, hadn't spoken, they'd barely even looked at each other in days.

Cheryl knew that they argued on a regular basis, it was only natural for them. But whatever was bothering them this time was affecting their work and she wasn't going to stand for it any longer.

She wanted to know what was going on between her negotiators and she wanted to know it now.

Cheryl picked up the phone receiver and dialed Matt's extension. "Both of you, my office, now," she ordered and hung up before Matt could speak.

"We're in trouble for something," Matt said as he stood and pushed in his desk chair.

Emily didn't respond, she just followed Matt into their bosses office.

"Who's fault is it?"

Confused, Emily answered, "Cheryl, what did one of us supposedly do?"

"That's exactly what I'd like to know," she barked.

Cheryl stared directly at Matt as she yelled, "something is going here and I want to know which of you to blame for it."

After a moment Matt finally spoke up, "look Cheryl, Emily and I had a… disagreement, but everything's fine now," he turned to look at his partner, "right?"

Emily looked at Matt, then at Cheryl and back to Matt again, "yeah, we're fine."

She could see a change in his eyes, something she'd never seen before, something that seemed to be making her weak in the knees. Emily wished that, if only for a minute, she could get inside her partner's head and attempt to analyze his thoughts.

Cheryl interrupted her train of though, "Let's keep it that way, shall we?"

"Yes ma'am," the negotiators said in unison.

"Good. Now go grab your overnight bags, we're going to Denver."


End file.
